My Demon's Nightmares
by IronSmoothieee
Summary: A mission goes wrong with the Avengers, and they're left with a cursed Tony Stark, who won't wake up. Little do they know what's going on in his head... Set after Iron Man 3 and Tony!Whump Centric
1. what?

**Hi everyone I'm back. And I brought a gift! Here's another Tony Whump fanfic like my others. **

**The only thing different is this story is placed right after Iron Man 3. So the avengers have moved into the tower, and fighting the bad guys has become a regular thing for the team. **

**Just a reminder that if you have a question about the story please review them and I'll answer in the next chapter (: **

**I'm happy to be writing again, and I hope you like my new story!**

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**Tony's POV **

Tony Stark woke up with a muffled cry, gasping for breath.

'What?'

'_What?'_

His body shook like he was scared for his life, and he could feel he had already broken into a cold sweat.

Shaking his head jerkingly, he tried to clear his head from the fog that surrounded it. He felt like he's been asleep for a lifetime and he's just now waking up.

'What the hell happened? Did a mission go wrong and he had been in a coma? Did he cause another explosion in the lab? He didn't feel injured, just kinda'...Numb. Oh god was he in a hospital pumped up on drugs? Please don't be in a hospital- wait. What if he was- dead? Well it was going to happen eventually, surprised it didn't happen sooner.'

He didn't seem to have a problem with his vision, but as he looked around at his surroundings all he saw was black. After a couple more attempts to see through the darkness, his eye lids fluttered and he realized he had his eyes closed.

'...Opps.'

When he opened his eyes he winced and squinted. A bright light seemed to explode from behind his eyes. Eventually he adjusted to the light and could take in the room around him. It was small, but not so small as to make him claustrophobic, which was a good sign. What he did find uncomfortable was how very white the room was.

Not only were all the walls painted a bright white, but so was the tile floor. The bed he soon felt he was in had all white features with a thin blanket he noticed wrapped around his waist. On the side of the bed stood a small table with, what looked like, a cell phone?

Tony slowly sat up in the bed,confusion overwhelming him. As he put his legs over the side of the mattress, the sheet had gotten tangled up with him. Aggressively pulling the blanket from around his body he threw it to the side. Taking a deep breath he shuddered and rubbed his arms noticing how cold it was.

Looking down at himself he could see he was wearing his skin tight black t-shirt, the one he wears under the suit, and his usual black pants. Tony's hand went to his chest protectively, grasping the place where is arc reactor used to be. Feeling his own flesh and blood pumping beneath his fingers, beside the cold metal that used to run through his body made him positive that he was likely alive. So that comforted him, at least a little.

Pushing on his knees, the engineer stood up, but when he tried taking a step his leg gave out on him, as if it wasn't expecting the weight. Tony grunted as he caught himself on the ground. Everything in his mind was fuzzy, and it was like he was in a dream.

'Focus Tony. You don't know who's watching you, would you really want them to see you failing at walking?' Tony thought to himself, his pride always being his best encouragement.

Standing up again, he shakily walked over to the white desk in the corner. Looking, he again, saw the phone and picked it up. It wasn't anything like the _Stark phone, _in fact it was an old fashioned flip phone. When he opened it up nothing powered on and he concluded that it was dead. But his attention was brought away from the phone when he looked up and saw an oval shaped mirror right in front of him, a mirror he was sure wasn't there before.

He looked deeply into the reflection at himself. His expression was missing that energetic look to it, and his skin was as white as the room he was in. He also noticed the usual dark circles beneath his eyes had a darker shade to them. Keeping his facade up, he thought hard.

'Alright, what happened? What's the last thing I did?'

Digging deep in his memory he realized his mind was a lot more clearer than when he first woke up. The more he focused the clearer an image became, and he found himself remembering an event that seemed almost recent.

He was with the Avengers... On a mission? And there was something wrong. They were fighting- wait no, they were looking for something. He recalled a few smartass comments on his part and the good ole' captain getting irritated with him.

He remembered the satisfaction of finding what they were looking for... He didn't know what. And then... Pain? Okay there definitely was pain. Then... Nothing. Blank. Tony began to sigh, but then a noise interrupted his train of thought.

Looking down, Tony was astonished to see that the cell phone he had claimed dead, was vibrating and ringing in his hand. Slowly, he flipped it open and held it to his ear, but kept silent and the receiver away from his mouth so you couldn't hear him breathing. He didn't have to wait long till a voice erupted from the small device, so loud he had to hold it away from his ear.

"Hello Mr. Stark." A raspy female voice greeted, from the resurrected phone.

Tony kept quiet and listened. 'This is a little too creepy...' He thought.

"I'm so glad you could join me. I'm quite looking forward to this, you deem to be very entertaining."

"I get that a lot from women. Just a sort of vibe I have." Tony retorted, the scratchiness in his voice not going unnoticed.

The lady on the other line chuckled, but for some reason Tony felt that it wasn't at his playful banter.

"Tony Stark, I heard talk of you. The man who hides behind a mask of iron. And now that I know everything about you, I cannot wait to use it to my advantage."

"Right now sweetheart, all you are to me is the creepy chick on the phone line. I hardly believe you know anything about me." Tony replied.

"Hardly." The lady said in a mocking tone.

"As much as I love being held in a confined bedroom with nothing but an old phone and Ms. Mysterious to talk to, I would appreciate being told WHY." Tony growled, getting tired of all this.

Another villainous laugh sounded from the speaker, and the lady said, "how confined is your room Tony Stark?"

"Um, very, the last time I checked." Tony answered with all the sass he could muster. Also a bit annoyed that anyone would accuse him of not knowing his own surroundings. Tony turned on his heels, to take another look around the room just to confirm his thoughts but instead he shockingly found a wooden, rectangular door, parallel to him. As he could feel his eyes go wide and eyebrows furrow, the lady on the phone he still held to his ear gave another chuckle.

"But-." Tony stuttered.

"But? That is a very unintelligent response for a man as clever and witty as you are. Perhaps you have not dealt with the unordinary before."

The billionaire shook his head and gained his posture smirking. "As right as you are about me being smart, I believe I have had my fair share of the _unordinary." _He said, not taking his eyes off the door. "But I thought you would know that already, you knowing everything about me."

"Ohh I do not know everything Tony Stark. Everything would include the tiny, pointless parts like joy, happiness, and courage. I know everything that makes you who you are. And that's fear."

Tony swallowed. What ever this woman was, and judging how her voice was getting more and more malicious sounding by the second, her intentions were not the best. And what ever she would know about his 'fears' would not suit well with his... Anxiety issues.

"However..." The lady started, as if she was looking through something. "There is something here on the Chitauri. In a land called... New... Yor-"

"Yeah," Tony said cutting her off before she could finish, "thanks to reindeer games. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Loki would it?" Tony said twirling around the room. "With him being into the whole dark magic thing and all."

"Ah, Loki..." The lady said slowly and Tony could practically hear the smile spreading on her face. "The trickster of a man. But unfortunately no, he has not assisted me on this adventure."

"You know I'm not a genius at- well, I am a genius, but not exactly when it comes to this stuff. In fact, I'm more of the science type. Before Loki, I didn't even believe A god, much less a thunder wielding giant, with a psycho murderous brother who may, or may not be adopted, I still haven't gotten that family disoriented story yet-"

"SILENCE." The voice boomed on the phone, halting his rambling to a stop.

"Tony Stark, you will face your fears." She said darkly, and Tony felt like now her voice was circling him like a shark, instead of being on the cell phone.

"And then!" She cheered with sarcastic enthusiasm, "I get to decide whether you live or die!"

Tony put up a mask of confusion. "Well that doesn't seem fair." He said, returning the sarcasm. "If I was going to face my fears_, _shouldn't I be rewarded for it, not killed?"

"That's the greatest part my dear. After you have seen all the terrible things that have made you who you are, and by what I've seen there are many, death would be the greatest reward to you!" She exclaimed, cackling once more.

Tony looked like he was thinking for a moment. "Hmm. No, doesn't sound like me. But I can say, I am very interested in finding out how exactly you plan in showing me my 'worst fears'. So far all I know you can do is make common household furniture appear, and I don't think you zapping a flower vase in front of me is going to make me beg for death."

The lady continued to laugh as she taunted Tony and said, "have you really not figured it out yet, Tony Stark? I have trapped you in your own mind. You are my prisoner at your own demons will!"

"Hm." Tony said, not fully expecting that to be the case. Sure he had accepted that it was some sort of magic, but not to this extent of abnormalities...

He looked up and around again and said, "I. I expected it to be bigger."

The wooden door to the side squeaked, as it slowly began to open, and Tony whirled around to watch as it widened.

"Oh trust me. It is."

Tony jumped forward, feeling the breath against his skin, as someone whispered into his ear. Twisting around to find someone near him, he only came back around to see the pitch black darkness inside the doorway, whirl out like tentacles, and pull him into the dark oblivion.

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**Please review for the next chapter! Also if anything is out of character or I made a mistake please review and I will try to correct it. **

**Or you know what. Just review if you want to say hello. Thanks you!**


	2. Hero

Avenger's POV

"Black Widow, Hawkeye! Get above and find the source of this thing!" Steve yelled over the intercom.

"Copy." the agents said back in union. The Avengers ran around the block, clearing citizens from any distruction.

Earlier that morning they had gotten a call saying the police were getting over a dozen reports of fires just bursting up in occupied buildings. After more than a couple fire truck trips, they searched the remains of the buildings and found no source of timebombs, or anything that would explain a random explosion with no attack sightings. When the reports of bursting fires doubled on the same block, that's when they called in for more 'superior reinforcements'.

Steve walked up to a group of city officers and yelled over the commotion, "There's three more fires around the block, they're small, but there are people trapped inside. Get your troops and fire safety down there fast!"

What he would imagine the chief officer replied back, "on it captain!" and sent his squads in different directions.

Steve sighed but was cut off as he put up his shield to defend himself from flying sparks coming his way, most likely another fire erupting.

"Stark!" He said once again into the intercom, "this is getting out of hand we need to find out whats causing this."

"Give me a minute Cap!" Tony strained trying not to break his teeth gritting so hard.

After assisting with taking out a fire, a woman had come up to him, begging him to save her child, who was still inside their burning apartment.

Blasting into one of the bedrooms, he searched, aware of how the temperature was rising. As he opened the closet door, he found a kid, maybe four or five, clinging onto a scarf hanging from a clothing rack.

"Y-your Iron Man!" The boy squealed.

"Yep, now come on buddy, we got to get out of here." Tony said bending down, putting out his arms hurriedly. He could hear the flames getting closer outside the door.

"Are you saving me?" The boy said with no sense of rush. Tony stepped forward and flipped up his face mask, making his expression friendly.

" 'bout to yeah, now come on kid let's get out of here-" Tony stopped when he saw the kids eyes widen and small hands grip the piece of cloth tighter. He didn't want to scare the kid, he just wanted to be the hero.

So putting on a smile, he began to say , "I-" but was intruppted when the boy said, "where's Captain 'Mercia?"

"He's," Tony said, as he heard the door blow of the hinges.

"I want to be saved by Captain 'Mercia!"

"Oh for God's sake!" Flipping down his face mask he grabbed the kid around the waist and spinned around, coming face to face with a growing fire.

Finding an opening, he guarded the crying child from the flames and looked for an exit. quickly he shot his repular at an, foretunately large window, shattering the glass, and flying through, his hand forming a metal shield to protect kid from harm.

By the time Tony was landing next to the mother he met before, the wailing child was pounding onto his metal chest, probably making his fists pretty sore.

The woman gasping and grabbed her child, petting his hair back and kissing him on the forehead. As Tony was about to fly off, he heard the woman telling her boy in a soft voice, "it's alright. It's okay. Everythings going to be okay, mommy's got you. I've got you."

The sound of his intercom brought him back, as he hit the thrusters full force, sending him shooting into the air. "What was that?" Tony asked into the intercom, as he missed what was said.

"Lady Widow and Hawk of Eye have found the woman, who is the cause of this."

"Woman?" Tony questioned.

"Affirmative. Head for 36th street Stark for arrest." Steve voice ordered.

"Got it." Tony replied, directing the repulsars.

When everyone gathered onto the street, including Bruce in his human form, they approached a figure sitting on the ground. She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the street, and wore a black hood that covered her body and head, only revealing her face and strands of white hair falling over her shoulders. She had a darker complexion, and her eyes were open, but completely white, no pupils. Her lips were blood red, and were curved upward in to a smile.

As Tony's suit made a 'clink', when he landed, he walked towards the girl, flipping his face mask up once again.

Steve put out his arm to stop him though, and said, "she might be a threat."

"So could I." Tony said jokingly. "Relax capsicle, I can take care of myself."

Steve glared at the billionaire and exclaimed, "but you're not the only one here Stark you're part of a team, so you better quit the attitude and obey orders."

Mechanical noises sounded as Tony turned to face Steve and he retorted, "they might call you Captain America, but your not my captain. I don't have to take orders from you."

The other Avengers stood around the two feeling the tension turning. They were used to the two bickering at the worst of times. Steve opened his mouth to argue back, but was interrupted by a deep, raspy voice.

"You humans acquire to be so entertaining. So easily consumed by fear it is... hilarious."

Tony turned around to stare with everyone else.

"So what, you burned down over 20 buildings for kicks?" Clint asked, gripping his bow tighter.

"You may put it like that if you wish." The woman chuckled.

"Shield is on it's way." Natasha said in her normal, flat voice, checking her communicator.

The woman still on the ground groaned and whined, "Oh but I'm still so bored. As you Midgardians would put it."

"You speak as if you are not from this planet. What realm do you come from?" Thor asked, pointing mjolnir in her direction.

The woman sighed again, and closed her eyes, dropping her shoulders. Waiting, the team stood and prepared for any attack. But when nothing came, and the strange girl still sat frozen on the ground, Clint muttered, "okayyy."

"Alright, well let's get this over with." Tony groaned, as he walked over to restrain the lady's arms with heavy metal cuffs. "I'm hungry anyone up for shwarm- amph!" Tony's words caught in his throat, as he suddenly couldn't breathe.

The Avengers jumped forward, their eyes wide, when right before the mechanics hand could touch the girl, she lashed out so fast and had her hand pressed up against the Iron Man's chest.

She wasn't physically doing anything, but it had to be magic because Tony was gasping for breath, slowly falling to the ground.

"What did you do?" Bruce asked clenching his teeth.

The lady grinned, showing black teeth. Ignoring Banner's question, she pushed harder on Tony's chest, causing him to fall on his knees still in the suit. His face was getting increasingly pale and his struggle to breathe was getting strained.

"Ooh, there's a lot of fear built up in you.." Tony made a gasping noise, defenseless against the magic. Clint had his bow drawn, and Natasha her guns, all waiting for the order. But they knew they could risk doing anything with Tony at her hand.

"Ваш самый большой страх будет потреблять вас," the woman mutterted darkly, and the Avengers watched as Tony's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

Only a few seconds after Tony fell, the woman did as well, still smiling madly.

Unfortunate with their timing shield arrived with gun point, just to see the two lying still on the ground. The avengers were hurried into an aircraft, Tony on a stretcher.

They all followed the doctors rushing them with questions. One of the doctors fell behind, blocking the team from the path way.

"Please, we are going to help all we can, but we cannot have any distractions if you want to assist Stark."

"Sir, whatever's wrong with him is some form of magic." Steve said.

"I'll assure you, we are capable of finding the source." The man said comforting. "After Loki, we got some experience in finding this sort of thing."

As the medic walked away, Bruce called out, following, "I'm a doctor, I could help." Leaving the rest to go back to controls, most likely for debriefing.

"What happened." Agent Hill ordered, as they all sat in the flying craft.

"We- we don't know." Steve answered.

"The woman who poisoned the man of Iron claimed she was not from this realm. But I failed to recognize her." Thor's voice boomed.

"Anything she said? Anything to tell us what her objective is?"

"She said something. Right before she knocked out Stark, but I didn't understand what language." Steve said.

"It was Russian." Clint said looking down where he sat.

"She said, 'your greatest fears will consume you.'" Natasha continued, looking up.

"What could that mean.." Hill muttered, as they all turned to stare at the lying figure heavily handcuffed, on the opposite wall. her red lips still looking like it was forming a small grin.

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**Please review. I love reading reviews. If I made any mistakes, please inform me and I will fix it. I will try to get the next chapter up faster. Oh and HEY YOSHI! I missed ya. **


	3. Ransom

**So if you noticed, I changed the tittle of this story because it was way to bland for me haha. I hope it's more original. This chapter took me forever. But I finally did it, and I hope you like it.**

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**Tony's POV**

Tony Stark had his eyes closed.

Because a second ago he was in a bedroom that reminded him of a hospital, being told that he was trapped inside his own head, and that all of his worst fears were coming to life. So now, standing who knows where, having his eyes closed sounded like a pretty good option.

"Tony Stark... Tony Stark are you ready?"

Slowly, the engineer opened his eyes, recognizing the voice surrounding him as the woman from the phone.

Looking around he noticed he was in a dark hallway. It was long, really long, he couldn't see the end of it. It was lined with doors on both sides, and it reminded him of a hotel.

"Tony Stark. Are you afraid?" The voice said chuckling.

Tony swallowed. Not having a clue what's going to happen, where he was, or how vulnerable he was, didn't always suit well with the mechanic.

"So," Tony said, pushing down his panic, "you keep talking 'bout fun, but your the most boring capture I've ever had."

"Yes, well, you've had enough experience to know I suppose." The lady responded.

"Few months in an Afghanistan cave, and a car battery," Tony mutterted to himself, looking at the cement walls, "fun fun fun."

"Oh. Well yes, that time looks entertaining I suppose." The woman said unintrested.

Tony froze, Before he continued down the narrow path.

"So what do I call you? Being you trapped me in my own mind, might as well give you the credit." Tony asked sarcastically.

'I can't believe I'm making small talk with a psycho chick who gets kicks out of scaring people to death.' Tony thought to himself. But the panic was rising in his throat, and rambling on to someone always kept the attack distant. So far, this was his only option.

"Hm. You may call me. Terra." The woman answered proudly.

"Terra. Okay. And what horrendous backstory, or messed up childhood led you to your villainous ways?" Tony asked, his tone uninterested.

"Oh, it is quite simple. I am just highly amused by the weakness expressed by fear." The girl, or Terra answered darkly.

"But enough about me. I believe I have chosen a memory."

Stopping, Tony stood in the narrow hallway, and prepared himself for any attack. "Memory?" He muttered confused.

To Tony's left, a door swung open, the door knob colliding with the wall. Moving away from the door way, his back pressed up against the farthest wall.

"Yes. Let the fun begin." Terra exclaimed excitedly.

Through the door way it was dark, and Tony couldn't make out anything from inside. But to be completely honest, he really didn't want to judging by his new friend 'Terra's' tone.

But all of a sudden, out of no where Tony had the sudden urge to walk into the room, to find out what was in there. It made no sense, because he knew nothing good could lie behind the door, but it was like someone just stuffed curiosity into his head and it was over flowing.

Hypnotically, Tony shuffled towards, and slowly through yet another darkness.

**Avenger's POV**

At shield head quarters, Nick Fury sat impatient at his desk, awaiting for his team to come back with yet another successful arrest. What he didn't expect, or maybe he did, was one unconscious Tony Stark, apparently cursed by a 'witch'. So basically just some more shit he didn't want to deal with.

As Fury walked briskly down the hall, his footsteps echoing off the walls, he didn't stop to watch the shield doctor's fly by him pushing a stretcher. Briefly he caught a glimpse of the smart ass's dark, goatee on the wheeled bed before they rounded him into a medical room, followed shortly by an exhausted looking Doctor Banner.

"What orders did he disobey this time?" Fury said annoyed, coming up to Agent Hill.

"Nothing out of Stark ordinary sir. Thought it would be a good idea to confront an unknown threat alone and without caution." Hill explained and sighed.

"What's the damage?" Fury continued to ask.

"We don't know yet, not until he's out of examination. So far he's just knocked out cold."

"Figures. And the threat?" Hill didn't need to respond, because right behind her was the woman they had dragged unconscious onto the carrier earlier. Though now she was awake, smiling like a clown in a circus. She was heavily cuffed, and was being held by the arms carried to the sheild's holding cells.

This wasn't the first time Steve Rogers sat in a medical facility beside the hospital bed of one Tony Stark. Every now an again his reckless personality would wound him up injured, or unconscious in a hospital bed. He was the only one who sat in the room beside Stark, the doctor's saying they had to take turns and didn't want to be overwhelmed by the crowd of people.

The captain squirmed, uncomfortable in the small plastic chair. One of the down sides to the serum, being too heavy or big for normal sized things. Not that he was complaining.

The sound of the door squeaking on it's hinges made him look up, and see their eye patched leader.

"The most experienced doctors looked him over and said they couldn't find anything else other than that he won't wake up." Fury exclaimed without a greeting.

Slowly Rogers stood up facing the director and shaked his head slightly. "What are we suppose to do?"

"All we can do, is wait for any trace from him. Obviously I plan on having the woman interrogated." Fury responded.

Sighing, the two men looked at each other before Fury turned to leave. "Be in my office with your team, 30 minutes captain." He ordered, before disappearing around the door way.

Steve sighed, again. Who knows how many times he's done that just today. Collapsing back into the chair, he massaged his temples to relieve some of the stress. As he continued to think of today's events, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the noise of soft mumbling.

Looking around the room, he saw that he was still alone. Then his eyes rested on Tony sitting still in the white bed sheets. Standing up, he walked over to the bed side looking down at the distressed expression on the billionaire's face. Again, he heard a groan erupt from Tony's throat, and more incoherent mumbling.

**Tony's POV**

Tony was getting sick of this. Thrown through these 'doors' like some voodoo doll. It used to be so much more simpilar. When he could rely on science, and the logic of things.

The room he had just unconsciencely walked into grew brighter, until the setting around him changed for the third time in what seems like an hour.

As it faded into place, he could recognize he was standing in a, house? It was old, and broken furniture scattered the room. The scent of muskiness filled his nostrils. It looked abandoned, so maybe it was a ware house.

When he took a step, the boards creaked beneath him, the same time he heard deep laughter, coming closer. He froze in place and listened for the foot steps that neared the corner.

Stepping into the room, were two men, one so bald Tony bet he could see his reflection on it. Both were tall, and muscular, covered in tattoos. The one that stood next to the bald guy had a full moustache along with an overly out of style mullet.

Before Tony could say anything, the bald man whipped out a gun and pointed it directly at him.

Slowly putting up his arms, he thought of some snarky comment, or unpredictable move that could get him out of this. But when he opened his mouth the other guy said encouragingly to the shooter, " 'ight in da center Tom." And instantly the sound of the trigger being pulled and the bullet come rushing out of the barrel made him jump, eyes wide.

When he expected the bullet to go charging into his chest, he was surprised by the lack of pain. Looking down, he saw no wound, no blood. Only a 'thud' from behind him.

Turning, directly behind the mechanic was a painted target. Or at least it was painted once, long ago. Now it was full to the edges with bullet holes. Unbelievable there was still fabric left to hold it up.

Realization hit him that the bullet went straight through him.

'So.. what. I'm a ghost?' Tony thought pathetically.

The man who had said for the bald guy to shoot was cackling like a hyena. Quite annoyingly too.

Tony slowly took a step forward, so he was almost face to face with the bald man. Taking his hand, Tony waved in front of his face, and got no reaction. Chuckling, Tony laughed, "I'm fucking invisible."

Mullet dork was still laughing his head off, when he yelled in a scratchy voice, "come on ya' little bastard, you can't run, you can't fight, I don't even know why we tied ya up."

Tony was still snorting about the outcome of the situation, but then hearing that, he thought to himself, '... where have I heard that before?'

He could have sworn he heard that somewhere before. That exact sentence in that exact... voice... Shit.

Shit shit shit. He understood now.

He was in a memory.

The boneheaded men still cackled, but all Tony could focus on, was the little boy that walked around the corner.

He had his hands tied I'm front of him with thick rope, he was scrawny, and his dark messy hair fell in his face. He wore a pair of sweats with a thin, white T-shirt. His expression was blank but Tony could see the fear in his eyes. Not only could he see it, but he remembered it. Because that was him, that boy was him and this was a memory.

As Tony watched the built men push around the small child, he thought, 'this is crazy. I remember this.'

Taking the younger Stark, they shoved him into a corner, making him sit against the wall. Putting one knee up the kid rested his tied arms on his leg, with a bored face.

"What da hell is wrong with ya kid? We kidnapped yah! Act a little scared won't yah?" The bald man said waving the gun carelessly in young Tony's face.

Watching the barrel of the gun waverly, he sassed, "Is that what you want?"

Looking at the other kidnapper the man laughed and said, "it's more entertainin."

"Then that's why I'm not.", the kid said picking at his fingernails. "Morons.. "

The irritating cackling stopped abruptly, when the two men looked down to glare at the boy.

"What did you jus' say kid?" The bald one said kneeling down, growling in Tony's face.

Little Tony's face scrunched up and he turned his face blowing out his breath, making a point that the much bigger man had disgusting breath.

The real, older Tony, was too caught up watched and rewinding the memory. When he heard the sass in the eleven year old kid's voice, he huffed out a chuckle. 'Sarcastic little shit.' Tony thought to himself.

The captor still in young Tony's face, grabbed the raggedy hair on the back of the kids head, his temper obviously lost. Tony jumped and closed his eyes when he heard the 'thump' of the kid's head hit the wall.

He remembered that it didn't hurt that bad, only left a tiny bump. But just the fact that he could feel it. After all this time he felt the same pain that was caused when he was a kid.

"You betta watch your mouth kid. You might just be for a ransom, but it don't mean we can't hurt ya." The man warned, standing up again.

"Your wasting your time." Little Tony said staring at something invisible. "My dad's never going to give you any money."

"Please. Like they would risk 'avin anythin happen to their billionaire princess." The man snorted, tossing the other one a quarter.

"Time to get our Mula!" One of them exclaimed, as they both walked back into the hallway. Probably on their way to a pay phone and report their kidnapping and price to the father Stark.

"Don't go anywhere!" The voice echoed sarcastically down the hall.

"What would be the point." The young boy muttered to himself, and then threw his head backward hitting his head on the wall, much harder than the captor did.

Actual Tony, present Tony forgot. For a moment he forgot about the Avengers, panic attacks, terrorists, even caves in Afghanistan. And he remembered the controversies he had in his childhood head. He just wanted to make someone proud, mostly his father. Sometimes he would just wish his father liked him, maybe a little.

Also being an overly famous, billionaire genius's son, he had to deal with a lot of threats. Including capturings for ransoms. He would always think about movies he'd watch, where the hero would be held captive because he was important, or they needed him for his amazing abilities. Not for their father's money. He felt useless. Like just a trophy on a dusty shelf.

Squatting down, he looked the kid in his glazed over eyes. "It's going to turn out alright kid. Eventually." Tony muttered, knowing his words were unheard.

Time passed and Tony literally just stared at his hopeless self. Until the kidnappers came stomping back.

Tony put his head in his hands and leaned up against the wall. He knew how this played out, he remembered it. He didn't need to feel the same disappointment and self-hatred this kid was about to.

"Looks like your papa's a bigga' dick than I thought!" One of them bellowed, Leaving tied up Tony to raise his eyebrows but not his eyes.

"Said that your basically a man , and you need'ta learn to take care of ya self." the other said as he walked in.

Putting his hands down Tony looked at his younger self. Straight face, lips straight, readying a smirk. Something he learned growing up with press, don't let them see weakness.

Everything started to blur, but the memory continued in his head.

His father was the only one home at the time, but eventually his mother found out what was going on and payed the ransom. He couldn't remember how, but the morons were arrested in the long run.

He recalled his mother hugging and kissing him saying, "your drunken idiot of a father doesn't know what he's doing. Don't worry Anthony I'm here. I got you."

When everything was gone, and just darkness surrounded him, he could feel emotion rising up in his stomach. But just like he's done for the past twenty five years of his life, he shoved it down, refusing to be pathetically weak.

'Shut up Tony, your Iron Man now. your parents aren't even around, they're dead. Wait... nope that didn't help.'

The feeling of sleep, or maybe it was unconsciousness, poked at him suddenly. The usual habit of just avoiding the urge to sleep was ignored, and he welcomed the place where he could break from his thoughts.

* * *

**I'm not sure about this chapter. Please tell me what you think, and if you want another chapter please review! Thank you so much, until next time.**


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